This paper examines the effects of growth in African Ameriocan population, employment, and human capital on growth in per capita income at the census block group (CBG) level using ordinary least square and spatial reqression models. The results indicate the presence of conditional incaom conbergence between 1980 and 2000 with poorer CBGs growing faster than the...

The effect of fine-resolution wind simulations on fire growth simulations is explored. The wind models are (1) a wind field consisting of constant speed and direction applied everywhere over the area of interest; (2) a tool based on the solution of the conservation of mass only (termed mass-conserving model) and (3) a tool based on a solution of conservation of mass...

A simulation system was developed to explore how fuel treatments placed in topologically random and optimal spatial patterns affect the growth and behaviour of large fires when implemented at different rates over the course of five decades. The system consisted of a forest and fuel dynamics simulation module (Forest Vegetation Simulator, FVS), logic for deriving fuel...

This simulation research was conducted in order to develop a large-fire risk assessment system for the contiguous land area of the United States. The modeling system was applied to each of 134 Fire Planning Units (FPUs) to estimate burn probabilities and fire size distributions. To obtain stable estimates of these quantities, fire ignition and growth was simulated for...

Statistically downscaled climate change scenarios from four General Circulation Models for two Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP)were applied as inputs to a biogeochemical model, PnET-BGC, to examine potential future dynamics of water, carbon, and nitrogen in an old-growth Douglas-fir forest in the western Cascade Range. Projections show 56% to 77% increases...

This paper revisits the issue of income convergence by examining the question of whether poorer Census Block Groups have been catching up with wealthier Census Block Groups over the 1980-2000 period. The dataset consists of 161 Census Block Groups in Alabama?s west-central Black Belt region. Estimates of a spatial lag model provide support for the conditional...

A simulation system was developed to explore how fuel treatments placed in random and optimal spatial patterns affect the growth and behavior of large fires when implemented at different rates over the course of five decades. The system consists of a forest/fuel dynamics simulation module (FVS), logic for deriving fuel model dynamics from FVS output, a spatial fuel...

Components of a quantitative risk assessment were produced by simulation of burn probabilities and fire behavior variation for 134 fire planning units (FPUs) across the continental U.S. The system uses fire growth simulation of ignitions modeled from relationships between large fire occurrence and the fire danger index Energy Release Component (ERC). Simulations of 10,...

Climate change due to greenhouse gas emissions is predicted to raise the mean global temperature by 1.0-3.5°C in the next 50-100 years. The direct and indirect effects of this potential increase in temperature on terrestrial ecosystems and ecosystem processes are likely to be complex and highly varied in time and space. The Global Change and Terrestrial...

Fire managers are required to evaluate and justify the effectiveness of planned fuel treatments in modifying fire growth, behavior and effects on resources and assets. With the number of models currently available, today?s fire manager can become overwhelmed when deciding which model to use. Each model has a required level of expertise in order to develop the necessary...

A simulation system was developed to explore how fuel treatments placed in random and optimal spatial patterns affect the growth and behavior of large fires when implemented at different rates over the course of five decades. The system consists of several command line programs linked together: (1) FVS with the Parallel Processor (PPE) and Fire and Fuels (FFE)...

The purpose of this report is to document the suppression actions taken during the Hayman Fire. The long duration of suppression activities (June 8 through July 18), and multiple incident management teams assigned to the fire, makes this a challenging task. Original records and reports produced independently by the various teams assigned to different portions of the...

The papers contained in Volume II of these Proceedings represent a combination of papers originally scheduled for the delayed 1997 meeting of the World Wilderness Congress and those submitted in response to a second call for papers when the Congress was rescheduled for October 24-29, 1998, in Bangalore, India. Just as in Volume I, the papers are divided into seven...

This chapter is a compendium of six papers written to add further depth to our national assessment of Wilderness, begun with the previous chapter. The first three papers summarize research and experience about the identity of Wilderness users and how Wilderness is used, use of Wilderness for personal growth, and changes of Wilderness values. The second three papers...

The papers contained in Volume I of these Proceedings were originally scheduled for presentation at the Sixth World Wilderness Congress in Bangalore, India, in 1997. Due to a delay of the Congress until 1998, these 27 papers were compiled for publication prior to presentation. Volumes I and II contain papers covering seven topics: protected area systems: challenges,...

An ensemble simulation system that accounts for uncertainty in long-range weather conditions and two-dimensional wildland fire spread is described. Fuel moisture is expressed based on the energy release component, a US fire danger rating index, and its variation throughout the fire season is modeled using time series analysis of historical weather data. This analysis...

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (the Recovery Act) aimed to create jobs and promote economic growth while addressing the Nation?s social and environmental needs. The USDA Forest Service received $1.15 billion in economic recovery funding. This report contains key findings and lessons learned from a socioeconomic assessment of Forest Service Recovery...

Long-term data from the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest in New Hampshire show that air temperature has increased by about 1 °C over the last half century. The warmer climate has caused significant declines in snow depth, snow water equivalent and snow cover duration. Paradoxically, it has been suggested that warmer air temperatures may result in colder soils...

Due to projected increases in winter air temperatures in the northeastern USA over the next 100 years, the snowpack is expected to decrease in depth and duration, thereby increasing soil exposure to freezing air temperatures. To evaluate the potential physiological responses of sugar maple (Acer saccharum Marsh.) to a reduced snowpack, we measured...

Forest Service watershed-based Experimental Forests and Ranges (EFRs) have significantly advanced scientific knowledge on ecosystem structure and function through long-term monitoring and experimental research on hydrologic and biogeochemical cycling processes. Research conducted in the 1940s and 1950s began as ?classic? paired watershed studies. The emergence of the...